Qualifications

PhD: 2004, University of Milan, Italy (in Genetics and Molecular Sciences)
BSc: 2001, University of Milan (in Biological Sciences)

Employment and Affiliations

Researcher : 2011-current, Istituto di Genetica Molecolare, CNR, Pavia
Postdoctoral Fellow: 2005-2011, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex
2005, Dept. of Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Milan

Grants Awarded
2013-2017: AIRC Start up Grant 12710- Effects on genome stability of polymerase eta regulation by the Ubiquitin and SUMO pathways.

2012-2016 European Commission - Marie Curie Actions Career Integration Grant 303806 “Regulation of pol by phosphorylation, ubiquitination and SUMOylation (TLSCHECK) ”

Participation in Research Projects

2013-2017 Epigen Project
2008-2011 Medical Research Council – Program Grant “Replication of DNA Damage, and the role of the SMC5-6 protein complex in the response to DNA damage”
2005-2008 European Commission - Research Training Network “DNA REPAIR AND HUMAN HEALTH”
2005-2008 European Science Foundation – EuroDYNA “Dynamic Nuclear Architecture and Chromatin Function”


Participation to conferences
2016 Talk at “Responses to DNA damage: from molecule to disease”, Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands. UBR5 protects DNA replication from DNA polymerase h toxicity mediated by ubiquitylated H2A.
2015 Talk at Joint IGM-BDD meeting, Pavia, Italy. A new role of the E3 ligase UBR5 in DNA replication and damage tolerance
2014 Poster at 9th 3R Symposium, Gotemba, Japan. A new role of the E3 ligase UBR5 in DNA replication and damage tolerance
2013 Poster at SIBBM, Pavia, Italy. Regulation of Polymerase  by the SUMO pathway.
2013 Talk at Joint IGM meeting, Bologna, Italy. Role of post translational modifications in Translesion synthesis
2013 Talk at AIRC Start-up meeting, Bologna. Italy Effects on genome stability of polymerase eta regulation by the Ubiquitin and SUMO pathways
2012 Poster at 8th 3R Symposium, Awaji, Japan. Regulation of Polymerase  by the SUMO pathway.
2010 Talk at Ubiquitin and Cancer workshop, The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Ubiquitin regulation in post replication repair
2009 Talk at Genome Stability Network Conference, Hinxton, UK. The effect of PCNA ubiquitination and chromatin structure on the dynamic properties of Y-family DNA polymerases.
2008 Talk at EuroDYNA Conference, Hinxton, UK. Dynamics of translesion polymerases in living cells


Teaching
2017-2023 National Scientific Qualification for Assistant Professor (Level II) for sectors 05/E2 (Molecular Biology) and 05/I1 (Genetics)
2012-current Proponent of the PhD course in Genetica, Biologia Molecolare e Cellulare, University of Pavia

2011-current Guest Lecturer, Biologia Cellulare della cellula, Università degli Studi di Pavia
2010-2011 Guest Lecturer, Master in Imaging in Biomedical Research, University of Sussex, UK
2004 Teaching Assistant, Advanced Molecular Biology, University of Milan, Italy
2002 Teaching Assistant, Molecular Biology Lab II, University of Milan, Italy


Services for Research
2012-current Manager of Imaging and Sorting facilities of IGM-CNR


Referee for international scientific journals
DNA Repair, PLOSOne, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Oncogene, EMBO Journal, Journal of Cell Science, Nature Communications.

DNA replication is a highly processive and accurate process, but DNA damage is an extraordinary challenge and if left unrepaired can lead to increased mutagenesis, replication fork stalling and subsequent cell death. At the organism level these deficiencies can lead to cancerogenesis, neurodegeneration and immune defect. A tolerance mechanism called Post Replication Repair (PRR) can efficiently bypass unrepaired damage and allows completion of replication. The main interest of our research is a specialized DNA polymerase called DNA pol eta that is a fundamental player in such DNA damage tolerance mechanism. A deficiency in pol eta is the cause of the genetic disease XPV. XPV patients present with abnormal pigmentation of the skin and are highly prone to sunlight-induced skin cancers, such as basal and squamous cell carcinomas and malignant melanomas. In particular we focus on the characterization on how poleta is regulated by post-translational modifications (Ubiquitination, phosphorylation and SUMO), in the context of the cellular repair mechanisms and DNA damage checkpoints. We tackle these questions via a multidisciplinary approach ranging from cell biology to protein biochemistry in human cell lines. Work in the lab is aimed to provide insights into the way that pol assists in the maintenance of genome stability as a barrier for cancer development, potentially providing diagnostic biomarkers for atypical XPV diagnosis and, in the long-term, hopefully contribute to the design of rational cancer therapies.

Bertoletti F, Cea V, Liang CC, Lanati T, Maffia A, Avarello MDM, Cipolla L, Lehmann AR, Cohn MA, Sabbioneda S. Phosphorylation regulates human polη stability and damage bypass throughout the cell cycle. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Sep 19;45(16):9441-9454.
Mentegari E, Crespan E, Bavagnoli L, Kissova M, Bertoletti F, Sabbioneda S, Imhof R, Sturla SJ, Nilforoushan A, Hübscher U, van Loon B, Maga G. Ribonucleotide incorporation by human DNA polymerase η impacts translesion synthesis and RNase H2 activity. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Mar 17;45(5):2600-2614.

Cipolla L, Maffia A, Bertoletti F, Sabbioneda S. The Regulation of DNA Damage Tolerance by Ubiquitin and Ubiquitin-Like Modifiers. (2016) Front Genet. Jun 13;7:105
Kanu N, Zhang T, Burrell RA, Chakraborty A, Cronshaw J, DaCosta C, Grönroos E, Pemberton HN, Anderton E, Gonzalez L, Sabbioneda S, Ulrich HD, Swanton C, Behrens A. RAD18, WRNIP1 and ATMIN promote ATM signalling in response to replication stress. (2016) Oncogene. Jul 28;35(30):4020
Harley ME, Murina O, Leitch A, Higgs MR, Bicknell LS, Yigit G, Blackford AN, Zlatanou A, Mackenzie KJ, Reddy K, Halachev M, McGlasson S, Reijns MA, Fluteau A, Martin CA, Sabbioneda S, Elcioglu NH, Altmüller J, Thiele H, Greenhalgh L, Chessa L, Maghnie M, Salim M, Bober MB, Nürnberg P, Jackson SP, Hurles ME, Wollnik B, Stewart GS, Jackson AP. TRAIP promotes DNA damage response during genome replication and is mutated in primordial dwarfism. (2016) Nat Genet. Jan;48(1):36-43.
Zlatanou A, Sabbioneda S, Miller ES, Greenwalt A, Aggathanggelou A, Maurice MM, Lehmann AR, Stankovic T, Reverdy C, Colland F, Vaziri C, Stewart GS. USP7 is essential for maintaining Rad18 stability and DNA damage tolerance. (2016) Oncogene. Feb 25;35(8):965-76

Cea V, Cipolla L, Sabbioneda S. Replication of Structured DNA and its implication in epigenetic stability. (2015)Front Genet. Jun 16;6:209
Lehmann, AR Sabbioneda, Goehler T; Niimi A, Green CM, Bienko M, Dikic I. Regulation of translesion synthesis in human cells (2012) MUTAGENESIS Jan 27(1):106

Göhler T, Sabbioneda S, Green CM, Lehmann AR. ATR-mediated phosphorylation of DNA polymerase η is needed for efficient recovery from UV damage. (2011)J Cell Biol. Jan 24;192(2):219-27

Mari PO, Verbiest V, Sabbioneda S, Gourdin AM, Wijgers N, Dinant C, Lehmann AR, Vermeulen W, Giglia-Mari G. Influence of the live cell DNA marker DRAQ5 on chromatin-associated processes. (2010) DNA Repair Jul 1; 9(7):848-55.

Bienko M, Green CM, Sabbioneda S, Crosetto N, Matic I, Hibbert RG, Begovic, T, Niimi A, Mann M, Lehmann AR, Dikic I. Regulation of translesion synthesis DNA polymerase eta by monoubiquitination (2010) Mol Cell. Feb 12;37(3):396-407.

Sabbioneda S, Green CM, Bienko M, Kannouche P, Dikic I, Lehmann AR.. Ubiquitin-binding motif of human DNA polymerase eta is required for correct localization. (2009) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Feb 24;106(8):E20

Niimi A, Brown S, Sabbioneda S, Kannouche PL, Scott A, Yasui A, Green CM, Lehmann AR. Regulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen ubiquitination in mammalian cells. (2008) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Oct 21;105(42):16125-30.

Sabbioneda S, Gourdin AM, Green CM, Zotter A, Giglia-Mari G, Houtsmuller A, Vermeulen W, Lehmann AR. Effect of proliferating cell nuclear antigen ubiquitination and chromatin structure on the dynamic properties of the Y-family DNA polymerases. (2008) Mol Biol Cell. Dec;19(12):5193-202.

Lehmann AR, Niimi A, Ogi T, Brown S, Sabbioneda S, Wing JF, Kannouche PL, Green CM. Translesion syntesis: Y-family polymerases and the polymerase switch. (2007) DNA Repair Jul 1;6(7):891-9

Simone Sabbioneda, Ileana Bortolomai, Michele Giannattasio, Paolo Plevani, Marco Muzi Falconi. Yeast Rev1 is cell cycle regulated, phosphorylated in response to DNA damage and its binding to chromosomes is dependent upon MEC1. Dna Repair (2007) Jan 4;6(1):121-7.

Simone Sabbioneda, Brenda Minesinger, Michele Giannattasio, Paolo Plevani, Marco Muzi Falconi, Sue Jinks-Robertson. The 9-1-1 Checkpoint Clamp Physically Interacts with Pol and Is Partially Required for Spontaneous Pol-dependent Mutagenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 38657-65

Simone Sabbioneda, Lisa di Nola, Federico Lazzaro, Marco Muzi Falconi, Paolo Plevani. The DNA damage checkpoint response in budding yeast. (2004) Recents development in nucleic acid research.

Muzi-Falconi M., Sabbioneda S., Plevani P., Foiani M. Sometimes size does matter.(2003). Europ. J. Of Cancer, 39, 1337-1338.

Giannattasio M., Sabbioneda S., Minuzzo M., Plevani P., Muzi-Falconi M. Correlation between Checkpoint Activation and in Vivo Assembly of the Yeast Checkpoint Complex Rad17-Mec3-Ddc1. (2003). J. Biol. Chem. 278, 22303-22308.

No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.